Adamantine, almost to the very soul! [PrC]

Warforged Armorlord
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...ntinegolem.jpg
Sentinel Von, a warforged armorlord master

The armorlords, in their humble beginnings were a guild of humanoid craftsmen, entrusted by their leaders to create the ultimate legion of warforged warriors. After they were created, many tell different stories. Some say that the warforged warriors were ultimately loyal and loved their creators to their dying day, and some say the warriors were tired of their masters and killed each and every one. However the story goes, it ends with the warforged taking the mantle of their former masters, becoming incredible artisans of their very own bodies and for whatever reason, obvious or not, fulfilling their former masters tasks.
Some say however, that the warforged armorlords are warforged that discovered the secrets of the aberrant armorlord, and it's extraplanar symbiont, the spawn of terrible daelkyr. When they could not grow bones, they instead began reforging their bodies to become as great or greater than the armored bodies of the original armorlords.

HD: d12

Requirements
Race: Warforged
BAB: +9
Skills: Craft (armorsmithing) 12 ranks, Martial Lore 2 ranks
Feats: Adamantine Body, Masterwork Weaponry
Maneuvers: Ability to use 5th level strikes or stances of the Iron Heart or Stone dragon disciplines.
Special: Must have spent a week long ceremony reforging most of your body into a superior shape. The crafting materials used in this process cost the character 1,000 gp.

Class Skills: Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Martial Lore and Swim
Skill-points per level: 4+Int modifier

{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1st|+1|+2|+0|+0|Superior adamantine body
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+0|Forged artistry
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+1|Forged artistry
4th|+4|+4|+1|+1|Adamantine bulwark strike
5th|+5|+4|+1|+1|Forged artistry
6th|+6|+5|+2|+2|Forged artistry
7th|+7|+5|+2|+2|Rigid bearing stance
8th|+8|+6|+2|+2|Forged artistry
9th|+9|+6|+3|+3|Forged artistry
10th|+10|+7|+3|+3|Lord of the forge stance
[/table]

{table="head"]Level|Man. Known|Man. Readied|Stances Known
1st|0|0|0
2nd|1|0|0
3rd|0|1|1
4th|1|0|0
5th|0|0|0
6th|1|0|0
7th|0|0|1
8th|1|1|0
9th|0|0|0
10th|1|0|0
[/table]

Weapon and Armor proficiencies: Warforged armorlords recieve no additional weapon or armor proficiencies. They are proficient with their own armor and any weapons granted by this class.

Maneuvers: At each even-numbered level, a warforged armorlord gains new maneuvers known from the Iron Heart or Stone Dragon disciplines. You must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it. You add your full warforged armorlord levels to your initiator level to determine your total initiator level and your highest-level maneuvers known.
At levels 3rd, and 8th, you gain additional maneuvers readied per day.

Stances: At 3rd and 7th levels, you learn a new martial stance from the Iron Heart or Stone Dragon disciplines. You must meet the stances prerequisites to learn it.

Superior Adamantine Body (Ex): Upon taking the first level of this class, the warforged armorlord has a reconstructed body, superior to it's former adamantine body. Your base armor bonus to AC granted by your body remains +8 and your damage reduction increases to 5/adamantine. Your base land speed increases to 30 feet, you are considered to be wearing medium armor. You have a +3 maximum dexterity bonus to AC, a -2 penalty on all skill checks that armor check penalties apply to (Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand, Swim, and Tumble), and an arcane spell failure chance of 20%. In addition, you gain an additional slam attack, identical to your first and your slam attacks count as adamantine for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
At 7th level, your DR becomes 5/adamantine and magic.

Forged Artistry: As you progress in this class, you enhance your body through subtle craftsmanship and what can only be described as mechanical evolution. At each level except 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th, you gain one of the benefits chosen from the list below. Some of these abilities require certain prerequisites, such as ranks in a skill, a certain feat, warforged armorlord level or other forged artistry abilities.

Adamantine Sheath (Ex): Your body is coated with more plates that provide you with even thicker armor. Upon taking this ability, you increase your armor bonus to AC by 2, and each additional gain of this ability increases it by 1. Every time this ability is taken, the armorlord takes an additional penalty to skills that have armor check penalties applied to them for every time this ability has been taken.

Arms of Adamant (Ex): You craft a retractable weapon into your arm, one of masterful craft. You have an attached weapon, mimicking the qualities of any light or one-handed weapon you are proficient with. Because this weapon is specially designed to fit your body, it is considered adamantine, masterwork(and thus ready to be magically enhanced), and one size category larger for determining it's base damage. A warforged armorlord may have multiple weapons, including more than one per arm, but the armorlord can only have one weapon per hand available. Switching between them requires a move action.

Armored Deflection (Ex): Your body is resilient to most every kind of attack, even immaterial attacks. You gain a bonus to your touch AC equal to your Con modifier. This bonus only adds to your touch AC, and cannot go beyond your normal AC. You must be a 5th level warforged armorlord to take this ability.

Body Spikes (Ex): Your spikes are enhanced and enlarged, dealing more damage. The damage your spikes deal increases by one die size. This ability can be taken multiple times, and requires the Armor Spikes feat to attain.

Construct Resiliency (Ex): You build your body more like a construct than a living construct. You become immune to critical hits, nonlethal damage, stunning, ability damage, ability drain, death effects and necromancy effects, but you are no longer capable of receiving healing from spells of the Conjuration (healing) school. You must be an 9th level warforged armorlord to attain this ability.

Dragon's Fists (Su): You've crafted the shape of an open dragon's maw around your fists, with vents built around the sides exuding a particular element. Your slam attacks deal an additional 1d6 points of damage per two warforged armorlord levels. The type of extra damage must either be fire, cold, acid or electricity(chosen when this ability is taken). This ability requires 2 ranks in Knowledge (arcana).

Eldritch Anatomy (Su): A portion of your body becomes akin to a magic item. Treat one portion of your body(such as your arm or your head) as a wand with 50 charges. The spell the 'wand' is charged with must be of a level equal to your warforged armorlord level divided by two, rounded down. You can recharge this wand by draining the energy from a magic item. By taking 8 hours of concentration, you drain the item completely of it's magical properties. For every XP point it cost to create the item, you get a point to spend just on your 'wand'. For every 2 points you have, you can recharge a single charge of a 1st level wand spell, for every level the spell increases to(to a max of 5th) it costs another 2 points to spend on a charge, with a cost of 10 points for a 5th level wand. The wand cannot hold more than 50 charges. Creating and charging this wand follows all the same rules for XP and gp costs for crafting a wand. You can use this particular wand without having to make a Use Magic Device check, as though you were a real spellcaster. You must have at least 4 ranks in Use Magic Device to attain this ability.

Mettle (Ex): You have built your mind as resilient as your body. If you make a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), you instead completely negates the effect. An inert warforged armorlord does not gain the benefit of mettle. You must have the Iron Will feat, and be at least a 3rd level warforged armorlord to take this ability.

Golem's Resistance (Su): You've impounded magical energies into your very body, granting it resistance to spells similar to a golem's. You gain spell resistance equal to 12+your initiator level, additionally, your slams count as magic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. You must be a 6th level warforged armorlord and have 4 ranks in Spellcraft to take this ability.

Massive Frame (Ex): You've built your body up to greater sizes than your normal body. Your size increases by one category(to a maximum of collossal). You have all the penalties and benefits of the increased size. You must have the Adamantine Sheath forged artistry to attain this ability and this ability can only be taken once.

Powerful Slam (Ex): Your slam attack holds great power behind it, the force of your full body going into every attack. Your slam attack counts as being held by two hands for the purposes of Str to damage and extra damage added from use of the Power Attack feat. This ability requires the Power Attack feat to attain.

Razor Fists (Ex): Your fingers and knuckles are tipped with blades or hooks, giving your weapons an edge. Your slam attacks now deal both bludgeoning and slashing damage, and are considered both slams and claws for all intents and purposes.

Rigid Plating (Ex): Your plating is even stiffer and more resilient than normal. The DR granted by your superior adamantine body increases by 5 points for every time you take this ability.

Warforged Superiority: You gain any warforged feat for which you qualify as a bonus feat.

Adamantine Bulwark Strike (Ex): At 4th level, you learn a technique known only to your race, one used by one's own body to impact the bodies of your foes with deadly force. This is treated just as a normal martial maneuver: you must ready it and expend it normally. It is a 7th level strike, and does not belong to any discipline. You may initiate it as a standard action. Using this ability requires making an attack against a single foe, and if the strike hits you deal an additional 12d6 points of damage and if you use your slam attack with this maneuver it overcomes all hardness and DR.
Additionally, if the foe gets hit by this maneuver, they can make a Reflex save (DC 17+Str modifier). If they fail their save, their armor takes as much damage equal to half the damage they took from the maneuver, as their weapon punches through both it and them.

Rigid Bearing Stance (Ex): At 7th level, you learn a powerful defensive stance, one that creates a bulwark of your armor plating. You may drop the benefits of any other stance you know to gain the benefits of this one as a swift action. When in this stance, you mechanically hone your reflexes to deflect blows with your limbs and all the strongest portions of your body. The armor bonus granted by your superior adamantine body feat gains a +8 enhancement bonus to AC, but your base land speed is reduced by half, to a minimum of 0 ft. Additionally, once per round, you may take up a use of an attack of opportunity to entirely negate a single melee attack made against you in this stance.

Lord of the Forge Stance (Su): At 10th level, you acquire the ultimate warrior stance of your race and your craft. You may drop the benefits of any other stance you know to gain the benefits of this one as a swift action. When in this stance, adamantine seems to surround your body as if conjured, and more elements attach themselves to you. Your armor bonus to AC increases by 4 and your DR increases by 5. In addition to this, pick an additional four forged artistry abilities for which you retain for the duration of the encounter. The four chosen abilities must be picked at the beginning of the day and cannot be switched out until 24 hours have passed since you'd last done it.

*hears Built (to Resist) by Grip Inc playing in the background*

Not bad, though I'm unsure how useful a PrC focused on defense is, really. Without a way to keep enemies focused on him, they can just go destroy his squishier comrades while he quickly runs out of maneuvers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dyslexicfaser

*hears Built (to Resist) by Grip Inc playing in the background*

Not bad, though I'm unsure how useful a PrC focused on defense is, really. Without a way to keep enemies focused on him, they can just go destroy his squishier comrades while he quickly runs out of maneuvers.

---

Well, I made it a martial adept because something that has good defense should also have good offense, so it's a thread and the enemy has to deal with it. Plus, if you had a giant metal man beating the piss out of you with his arms right next to you, would you worry so much about the spellcaster? I mean from an instinctive point of view.

Also, how's that meldshaper comin'?

I like this. I like it a lot.

I'll have a better thought-out comment after I get some sleep.

This sir, is fantastic.

I have slight concerns about the capstone. I'll reply later after I can have a better look at home.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Krimm_Blackleaf

Body Spikes (Ex): Your spikes are enhanced and enlarged, dealing more damage. The damage your spikes deal increases by one die size. This ability can be taken multiple times, and requires the Armor Spikes feat to attain.

---

*Shudders* You know, if you take this over and over again, eventually those suckers should have reach...

Quote:

---

Eldritch Anatomy (Su): A portion of your body becomes akin to a magic item. Treat one portion of your body(such as your arm or your head) as a wand with 50 charges. The spell the 'wand' is charged with must be of a level equal to your warforged armorlord level divided by two, rounded down. You can recharge this wand by draining the energy from a magic item. By taking 8 hours of concentration, you drain the item completely of it's magical properties. For every XP point it cost to create the item, you get a point to spend just on your 'wand'. For every 2 points you have, you can recharge a single charge of a 1st level wand spell, for every level the spell increases to(to a max of 5th) it costs another 2 points to spend on a charge, with a cost of 10 points for a 5th level wand. You can use this particular wand without having to make a Use Magic Device check, as though you were a real spellcaster. You must have at least 4 ranks in Use Magic Device to attain this ability.

---

Yeesh, that's a bit scary, at least it can only be taken once... Also, does the item you drain get any sort of save? This is how you make a super commoner slayer, without Consumptive Field.

Quote:

---

Massive Frame (Ex): You've built your body up to greater sizes than your normal body. Your size increases by one category(to a maximum of collossal). You have all the penalties and benefits of the increased size. You must have the Adamantine Sheath forged artistry to attain this ability

---

Hmmm...I think this would be nicer if it granted like Powerful Build or something, instead of a size increase.

Quote:

---

Razor Fists (Ex): Your fingers and knuckles are tipped with blades or hooks, giving your weapons an edge. Your slam attacks now deal both bludgeoning and slashing damage, and are considered both slams and claws for all intents and purposes.

---

Wait, so I can take Improved Natural Attack (Claw) and (Slam)?

Quote:

---

Rigid Bearing Stance (Ex): At 7th level, you learn a powerful defensive stance, one that creates a bulwark of your armor plating. You may drop the benefits of any other stance you know to gain the benefits of this one as a swift action. When in this stance, you mechanically hone your reflexes to deflect blows with your limbs and all the strongest portions of your body. The armor bonus granted by your superior adamantine body feat gains a +8 enhancement bonus to AC, but your base land speed is reduced by half, to a minimum of 0 ft. Additionally, once per round, you may take up a use of an attack of opportunity to entirely negate a single melee attack made against you in this stance.

---

Oh wow, this means that you'll almost never get hit in melee, although there wasn't really much threat of that....

Quote:

---

Lord of the Forge Stance (Su): At 10th level, you acquire the ultimate warrior stance of your race and your craft. You may drop the benefits of any other stance you know to gain the benefits of this one as a swift action. When in this stance, adamantine seems to surround your body as if conjured, and more elements attach themselves to you. Your armor bonus to AC increases by 6 and your DR increases by 5. In addition to this, pick an additional four forged artistry abilities for which you retain for the duration of the encounter. The four chosen abilities must be picked at the beginning of the day and cannot be switched out until 24 hours have passed since you'd last done it.

---

Damn, this is pretty nice.

All in all, I like this a lot. Keep up the good work!

On a closer look...

It looks fine, mostly. I feel that Massive Frame should grant Powerful Build and only be gained once, but that's mostly because I find it hard to imagine a 'forged suddenly growing in size to that degree.

Secondly, I feel Lord of the Forge stance is a tad too powerful. Personally, I'd change the number of granted forged artistry abilities to two or three, otherwise I feel you could have a tad too much resilience. Admittedly, it's not massively flexible, but it still feels too powerful. However, take my opinion with a pinch of salt.

Other than that it looks fine.

Regarding Eldritch Anatomy: You need some clauses about expensive material components and XP components for spells. Otherwise you could pick Awaken and get 12,500 XPs (2.5 times a 20th level Artificer's Craft reserve) worth of casting just from the initial 50 charges, and that isn't taking into account that you can replace charges at only 10 XPs worth of magic items a peice. Personally paying any XP costs listed for a spell out of your own XPs when you cast it (NOT when the charges come into existance) seems the most obvious solution... and maybe you have consume the expensive material components in the ritual along with the magic item you are using to fuel the ability to recharge stored spells with such components... and 50x as a cost to making the modifications to add that ability to yourself for such spells.

As alway Krimm you have out done yourself. I like warforge for there ablitys in and out of combat but was never able to really play one. What you have created here has given warforged more flavor and style. I might try and talk my DM into playing this if you do not mind.

I'm not a big fan of warforged, nor do I hate or dislike them. That said, this looks pretty good to me. I have some ideas for new sublime/caster hybrid prestige classes but I need some help with the mechanics. Could you help me?

I've altered it a bit. I've made it so massive frame can only be taken once(because I think a large size is actually not as powerful as Powerful Build, which grants pretty much all the best parts of being large), clarified a couple things in eldritch anatomy. I've also reduced Lord of the Forge a bit in power, but I may increase it again later, considering that the ability is basically attained at 19th or 18th level.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Krimm_Blackleaf

I've also reduced Lord of the Forge a bit in power, but I may increase it again later, considering that the ability is basically attained at 19th or 18th level.

---

Good point - considering it's competition is stuff like Island in Time or whatever the Eternal Blade capstone is called, it's not really overpowered.

Very nice, I like this a lot. I haven't gotten the chance to play a big adamantine clothed warforged tank in a while and this is perfect.

Aaaaand we have a wiiinnneeeeeerrr!

It has been decided: my next character will be an unarmed swordsage/warforged armorlord, assuming I can get access to Eberron and the armor on the swordsage handwaved. Very nice, flavorful class, Krimm. All of your sublime PrCs seem to follow more or less the same format, but the mechanics are always built around flavor, which is how I think homebrewing should be done. Nice work.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eighth_Seraph

Aaaaand we have a wiiinnneeeeeerrr!

It has been decided: my next character will be an unarmed swordsage/warforged armorlord, assuming I can get access to Eberron and the armor on the swordsage handwaved. Very nice, flavorful class, Krimm. All of your sublime PrCs seem to follow more or less the same format, but the mechanics are always built around flavor, which is how I think homebrewing should be done. Nice work.

---

Thank you.:biggrin:

Still possible to perform what I consider to be serious cheese with Awaken I think since you cover material but XP components...